Skylarking

The trip to Naples was around forty miles. I have spoken about how shallow it is, and there is no ‘inside’ passage to get there, so we had to go out into the Gulf of Mexico. I turned south and stayed pretty much in a straight line. The way the coast curves, we were probably around five miles out into the Gulf at one point, yet we were still in only ten to fifteen feet of water. Our destination was the Naples City Marina, which also had mooring balls available. The charge here was $15/night with a four night maximum stay. The cost was great and we were told they had space available for us, but we had to come to the fuel dock first to check in and get a pump out. They even lock boat discharge valves to ensure no one is discharging waste into the waters. Since we are a ‘Great Lakes’ boat, we do not have the valve/ability to discharge if we wanted to, as it is illegal to do so in all of the Great Lakes. You may discharge three miles out in the oceans, or five miles out in the Gulf. Once we were pumped out and checked in, we made our way to the mooring ball. As we approached we saw another boat we had been meeting up with: Tide Therapy; This is a family traveling on their boat, but not doing the Loop, but this is our third time meeting them since Ft. Walton Beach.

Once we were tied up, our first order of business was to let Tori know we were there. She lives in Marco Island and works in Naples. We had been excited to visit her since we got to Florida. Once she was notified, we took the bikes around town and stopped for a slice of pizza at Napoli on the Bay. Afterward we continued on to the beach. This beach was crowded too, and we walked around and found a spot to sit and relax. We sat there until the sun set, then made our way back to the boat for dinner. We had to run the generator for dinner and to charge the batteries as mooring balls do not have power connections. We have not been tied up to a marina with power since Christmas day in Sarasota, so we have to make sure the batteries are charged.

Day 2- We left the bikes on shore, locked up of course, to make it easier to explore. We took a ride through town and ended up at Tin City. We walked around a bit and ended up going to a place we had passed for lunch: Captain and Krewe. After lunch, we rode to Baker Park which has an amazing bike path through all kinds of wildlife habitats and runs close to the Naples Airport. It was a fun ride around and we scoped out a dog park we might try to get Frank to, but we will need a car to get there with him. We headed back to the boat for dinner and saw a brewery- like I’ve said: they find us! We stopped at Riptide Brewing Company and had a pint on the back patio. We were watching them lay down some sod in the parking lot/ back patio so I inquired about this. Turns out they do it for “Yappy Hour”, where people bring their dogs in for socializing and drinking. We chatted a bit with one of the owners about the sod and if it would work on a boat. Finally we left and continued back. The generator was run and dinner was made, then we retired for the night.

Day 3- This was another beautiful day in paradise. We had made arrangement with Tori, who so graciously let us use her car while she went to work. We met in the morning and I dropped her off at the hospital and returned to the boat. We hung out awhile enjoying the sunshine, then around noon decided to go shopping and re-supply. We went to several stores for groceries and other items we wanted, then came back to unload everything. It took us two trip to get it all back to the boat! At this point it was close to 5pm, so we had to meet Tori to return the car. She dropped us off to the boat and we made plans to meet tomorrow. Since we had the bikes readily available, we decided to go explore some more. We were looking for a tiki bar we had passed a day ago, but couldn’t remember where it was. I had also asked the dock master about where the locals go and he told us about The Parrot Bar and Grill. This is a place where you could get a beverage without paying tourist prices. We had one there and continued on trying to find the tiki bar. We ended up at Shanes Cabana Bar overlooking the water. The prices here were good too, for the beer of the day, which was Founder’s Raspberry beer. Delicious, but we couldn’t drink more than one of them. So our search continued for the elusive tiki bar we had seen. We were trying to retrace our path and ended up finding it, but it was closed now. Oh well, we had a back up plan! Off we went to Tommy Bahama Restaurant and Bar for a nightcap. We found a spot at the bar and a nice couple next to us started up a conversation. Turns out they were from Brecksville, Ohio but were now living here in Naples. We acquainted them with our boats stories and had a good time, then figured it was time to head back for the night.

Day 4- We made plans to meet Tori in the afternoon. She picked us all up (including Frank) and we went to the dog park we had seen on our earlier bike travels. We hung out there for a while and let Frank run around. There were a few dogs there, but it was too hot for any of them to run around. They all just lounged around, trying to get pets from anyone who would pet them. We left and decided to get some lunch. We ended up at a cool spot Turcos Tacos. As we were eating, I saw the sky getting darker and darker. A storm was rolling in, and fast! We were done with lunch and tried to beat the rain- we were close, but it started to come down as we were driving back to the marina. Tori dropped us off and we ran to the dinghy, getting a little wet along the way, but we made it back to the boat just before the big downpour and wind hit. Since we were on a mooring ball, we weren’t worried about dragging. At this point we just hunkered down for the night and looked at the weather. Wind was coming tomorrow, but we had to leave per the marina rules. We felt we could make it to our next destination: Marco Island, via the old intracoastal waterway. This is called the ‘old intracoastal’ because it is no longer maintained to a minimum depth by the Army Corp of Engineers. Huh. NO longer maintained to a minimum depth. The charts show some low areas and everyone I’ve asked has said “I would only do it on a high tide”. So we will leave early tomorrow morning when the tide is rising and hope for the best…

The jump from Sanibel to Ft. Myers Beach was only five miles across the channel called Matanzas Pass. This is the opening from the Gulf into San Carlos Bay which has Sanibel on one side and Ft. Myers on the other side. We pulled anchor and headed over toward Ft. Myers. On the way there we called a marina that has mooring balls available to see if they had space for us. They did! It was going to cost us $18/ night, which is quite a deal for the area, also considering it was New Years Eve. We were to the mooring ball by mid morning and got settled in. As we were settling in, I noticed a sailboat come by going for another mooring ball a few boats down. I had noticed he looked to be by himself and he was having a hard time completing the maneuver of driving the boat and then running up to fish out the floating line attached to the ball. I yelled to Lauren I would be right back and jumped in the dinghy. Frank was mad I wasn’t taking him, so he started barking, but I took off to help if I could. I approached him as he was circling around again and called out to him I would assist. He was thankful and I basically hung on to the front of his sailboat while he turned us around, and when we got close, I reached out and grabbed the line to hand it up to him. Once he was secure and we were done chatting a bit, I returned to get Lauren. Now she and I headed in to the marina to check in and walk around the town a bit.

Ft. Myers was packed with tourists. We are in Florida ‘in season’. Everyone who wants to get away from the cold and snow is in Florida now. We went to the beach and it too was packed. It was fun to watch all the people. We soon found ourselves thirsty and saw a bar which we thought was a brewery. Smokin Oyster Brewery which we enjoyed some happy hour treats and found out they don’t brew anything there, but do have beers made for them. After this we walked back to the beach for a stroll along the water. Funny- Ft. Myers Beach is actually on Estero Island. The beach goes on for miles it seems and it is wide, with white sand and people everywhere! We found a spot to sit and hang out for a while while people watching. We continued to wander down and decided to stop at a beachside bar to wait for sunset. We ended up at Shuckers Cottage Bar and snagged a great table on the beach while we waited for the sun to set. We ate some snacks as well, and Lauren was starting to not feel too hot. She was coming down with the cold I had over Christmas, and it was coming fast. We made it to sunset and retreated back to the boat. I could see she was really not feeling well, and she was in bed and asleep by 9pm. I tried to stay up for the New Year, but ended up falling asleep as well. Happy New Year!

We started the day with a quick run to the island with Frank. Once that was taken care of, we took the dinghy over to Cabbage Key Restaurant. The island is only accessible by boat or helicopter. The restaurant is famous for the thousands of dollar bills hanging from every inch of the place, and the food. There are also a couple of trails through a wildlife sanctuary which we explored after lunch. Our lunch was tasty and once we finished the lunch and the small hike, we went back to prepare to leave.

The trip from Cabbage Key to Sanibel was only a little over twenty miles. We had looked at the weather and saw it looked pretty good the next couple of days, but this being Florida it could change quickly. Our anchorage we had picked out was at the end of the island, close to the lighthouse. The trip there was a bit rocky from all of the boats zipping by causing all kinds of wakes from every direction. Once we got close it started to become a bit more comfortable due to the fact it was close to getting dark and everyone was finishing their weekend and there were fewer boats zipping by. We made the last turn to come under the Sanibel Causeway and saw where we wanted to anchor. We made the approach just as a very large yacht came from the other direction and headed toward the same area. We got there first and dropped anchor. The large yacht stayed a little further out and then they dropped anchor too. We were fairly close to land, maybe thirty yards from shore, but sitting in almost twenty feet of water depth. They stayed a bit farther out than that. Once we were secure, we loaded into the dinghy to explore the island. We took Frank with us and admired the lighthouse close up. The island has a ton of shells on the beach and Lauren collected some cool ones. We returned to the boat and fired up the generator for dinner. While we were cooking, I noticed the large yacht had departed- that was strange to me. We had dinner and were treated to another great sunset before calling it a night.

Day 2- Lauren wanted to hang out on the beach for a while in the morning, so I took her into shore and dropped her off. I returned to the boat and put together her paddleboard we brought but had yet to inflate it. Once I was done with that, I loaded the bikes on the dinghy to bring to shore. This allows us to explore more and get out farther. We rode around the island and stopped for lunch at Island Cow and we found two seats at the bar instead of waiting for the forty five minutes we were quoted. Afterward we rode back on the only other street that runs the length of the island. I noticed parking at the park is $5/ hour and it costs $6 to cross the bridge to get here! They sure have the racket going on here. The island was beautiful though and there were tons of people everywhere including on the bike paths we were on. Once back to the beach we hung out a bit before getting Frank to land, then making dinner. We had left the bikes on shore in case we decided to take another ride, but in the end we didn’t feel like it so we just researched tomorrows destination: Ft. Meyers Beach, which was also New Years Eve.

We had decided to take the ‘outside’ Gulf route to our next anchorage. I wanted to get more ocean experience, and since the weather was so nice, why not? Let me tell you why not: the entrance/exit to the Gulf is a passage that tends to get shoaled in. What this means is there are sand bars that move around due to weather and currents, so unless you’re a ‘local’, you are going in blind. Charts cannot keep up with the movements of theses sand bars, so it doesn’t matter if you are in the ‘marked channel’. We left our mooring and were headed out the channel. I was listening to the radio and heard a constant call for SeaTow and TowBoat due to running aground in the Sarasota Pass. Hmmm…that’s where we’re heading… I figured I would watch for the boats aground and avoid them- solid plan in my mind. We were making our way out and the depth finder would start dropping, then it would come up some. I was zig-zagging around trying to keep deep water under our keel. We draw about four and a half feet, so I need at least that much to stay afloat. We were making our way out the channel when we came to a dead stop. Sssccrraappe….We had ‘bumped’ bottom a couple of times, but were able to keep forward progress- not this time. Dead stop. Oh shit. I tried powering through it, and nothing. I looked around and there were probably about a dozen small fishing boats around, but they kept on fishing. There was nothing they could really do for us anyway, so I don’t blame them. I was going back and forth with throttle trying to get us un-stuck every time a boat would pass- I was hoping the wake from them would give us enough lift to get us off. Lauren came out and was telling me to stop it! We’re stuck- let’s wait for higher tide! She didn’t want me to damage anything (like before) and we clearly were not getting off this sand bar without help, so I was just wasting gas. At least it is soft sand and not rocks! There we were, stuck in the sand, feeling helpless with nothing to do but wait. As we were waiting, I notice the SeaTow boat heading toward us. Since other boats had called them, they were coming to the rescue. The actual boat that had called them was now off and free, and the tow boat came up slowly. “You need help?” he called out. “Yes- I didn’t call you, but I think the guy who did is free- Can you get us off this?” He made a phone call and confirmed the previously stuck boat was free. “Do you have a membership?” he asked. “Yes” I replied and gave him the information. He tossed me a line and was able to drag us sideways off of the sandbar. He ran the information and prepared paperwork for me to sign for the tow. “You saved $1009 today having the membership” HOLY CRAP! The membership is a little less than $200 for the year- well worth it on the first use! I told him our plan to take the outside passage and he advised it would be best to use the intracoastal route due to the moving shoaling all around. The intracoastal waterway is kept dredged to a minimum of five feet, so that is the best route. Lesson learned (for now- you’ll see).

After getting pulled off and turning around, we made our way to the ICW (intracoastal waterway). We didn’t have too far to go, and since we got a late start due to the grounding we felt we would still make it in the daylight. We made our way there holding our breath in a few spots as we watched the depth finder decrease to an uncomfortable depth. Our destination was Pelican Bay, but we weren’t sure if we could make it in with our draft and the depths showing on the charts. Lauren had the idea to call the local Seatow (they are privately owned by location) and ask them for some advice. We had read about doing this, but this is the first time we actually did it; We were on the phone with a local towboat Captain and he advised us against our destination of Pelican Bay, saying the depths and changing shoals could make it difficult to enter. He advised us of an anchorage with plenty of water a little further south, across from Cabbage Key, We had researched and had a few places in mind to stop, but a lot of the spots were known shallow areas. We passed Pelican Bay- the reviews were good, but the charts show three feet or less on entry- not something we wanted to ‘try’ today and with the Captain’s advice we passed on by, but it was filled with boats. Probably a dozen easily As we passed it we wondered if we could make it in, but still being somewhat shy about depths we continued on further to the anchorage we thought would have more water depths and he had recommended.

We found our way to Useppa Island and the anchorage we were told about. Upon approach we saw there were two other boats anchored in the area, but spread out pretty far. On the chart I noticed there were underwater cables running under the space between them, but we took our chances and dropped anchor. We were directly across from Cabbage Key, and about a hundred yards from the marked channel. Boats were zooming up and down the channel, and some of the larger boats would rocks us a bit, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. I eventually got in the dinghy to take Frank to shore, and noticed people on one of the boats closest to us outside on their back deck. I went over to them to say hello and we chatted a bit about the Loop. They had completed it a few years ago, and were still living on their boat with their children. I inquired about where to take Frank and they pointed me toward a marina that was not too far away. As I approached the marina, a guy came out and asked if I was there to let the dog out? I replied “yes” and he then told me I needed to take him to the island across the way, and if I go to the other side, there is a spot to land the dinghy. Hmmm…not too friendly, but what could I do? I turned toward the island and made my way around it. I did find the beach clearing to land the dinghy and Frank enjoyed roaming around and all the new smells. I got Frank loaded back in the dinghy and off we went back to Klondike. Lauren and I sat on the back deck enjoying a glass of wine while the sun set and we were treated to a spectacular display of colors as it went down. Dinner was made, and we decided we had to stay for lunch at Cabbage Key tomorrow since we weren’t going too far to the next anchorage.

Our departure was easy and we made it to Sarasota Bay without any issues. The winds were still blowing, but not too bad, and the temperature was almost 80. Nice! Our reservation for the next few day was at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, which has a marina tucked in the back of the hotel. Christmas is in a couple of days, so we had made reservations for four days so we could have power and be able to cook a good Christmas dinner. The rates here were not cheap at $2.50 per foot, but that seems to be about the going rate now that we are in south Florida and it is ‘in season’.

We came into the marina and were directed to a slip. The docks were the half docks, which makes it a bit tricky getting in and tied up, but we did it on the first attempt. The wind was not quite as bad back here, but it was still blowing pretty good through the surrounding buildings. The nice thing about being here too was they have a pool which we could use, which was nice, except the weather was not conducive to sitting by a pool today. I did the check-in and received our keys and information about the city. We hung out for a bit until Uncle Jeff and Melinda came by and picked us up. They took us shopping and showed us some areas around town. After awhile we picked up some lunch at a cool little taco joint Screaming Goat and took it back to their house. We hung out there for a bit, then got dropped off back to the boat. Lauren then got to work on making Christmas cookies and we put on some Christmas movies. The cookies turned out great! The oven worked perfectly and it was really starting to feel like Christmas!

Day 2- Christmas Eve- We had made plans to have dinner with Jeff and Melinda later, so we had the afternoon to explore on our bikes. We rode to Saint Armands Key, which has a circle with shops, restaurants and all high end places you could think of. The wind was still blowing pretty good when we left and we had to bike over the Ringling Causeway. We made it, but it was not easy, between the uphill and wind. Once we were to the circle, we walked around and stopped for a small treat- I’m not sure what they were called, but similar to a macaron, and delicious! Now it was time to bike back and get cleaned up for dinner. We made the trek back and was able to be ready in time for the 5pm pick up. Once in the car, we were told it was going to be a party! Melinda had invited some other guests and Jeff had stayed up finalizing the menu and getting the prep started. When we arrived I was given the job of preparing the fire pit for later. They picked the right person! Soon the other guests started arriving and dinner was served! The food was amazing and the company was even better. This will be a Christmas Eve we’ll remember! Eventually the evening had to come to an end, so Jeff and Melinda graciously offered to drop us off, even though we were ready to call a taxi. We accepted the offer and was dropped off to our home on the water. We went to bed with full bellies and happy thoughts of the day(s) we’ve had.

Day 3- Christmas Day- I woke up with a cold. In Florida, on Christmas. The wind had finally died down and it was warm, so we thought we would hang out at the pool today, then have a nice Christmas dinner on the boat later. Lauren had purchased all of our items needed when we were out with Jeff and Melinda, so we were able to relax and enjoy the day. We went to the pool and I tried to power through the cold symptoms, but it kept getting worse for me. Being ‘that guy’, it was knocking me out. I eventually had to go back to the boat and try to rest a bit between the blowing of the nose and the stuffy head. I took some medicine and vitamin C, but nothing was working too well. Evening came and i was out cold by the time it got dark. Lauren made do with some dinner, but saved the good stuff for another day- maybe New Years? I felt terrible both physically and mentally for not being able to partake in a nice Christmas dinner, but what could I do? Hopefully this will pass quickly… Before I fell asleep, we had decided we would leave the expensive marina and go to another marina around the corner called Marina Jacks. They have mooring balls available for $28 a day, which is a lot cheaper than the hotel marina we were in. This means we have no power or water except what we carry, but the price was much better, and we will fill our water tanks before leaving.

Day 4- The weather was warm and the winds had returned. We didn’t have too far to go
and we made it there with no issues. We had plans to meet more family- Uncle David and Beth, for dinner at Hyde Park Sarasota. I was so excited to get there! I had been looking forward to this almost since we left! We were tied up to the mooring ball and took the bikes in to shore when we checked in. Once checked in we called Jeff and he came and picked us up for more shopping and exploring. He took us to see alligators, some shopping and more of the town. We got dropped off to the boat with just enough time to clean up and return to be picked up by Beth and David. We met them in the parking lot and made our way to Hyde Park. Our plan was for happy hour there (we’re on a budget!) so we got a table in the bar area. I made my rounds in the restaurant saying hello to all the people I know from when I spent some time there and we had an amazing dinner. We enjoyed some happy hour items and some dinner. David had insisted on picking up the bill, but when the time came, my amazingly wonderful boss- Kelly Fenske had picked up the tab. What!?!? What a surprise! I am so truly thankful for the generosity! We departed Hyde Park and were dropped off at the marina. After our good-bye’s, we hopped in the dinghy to head back- but wait! there is a cabana bar around the corner that David Culi and I went to on one of our Florida trips- I had to go there now in our own boat! I remember looking at all of the boats here and thinking “one day I’ll make it here on MY boat…” and here we are! Sarasota has been full of wonderful memories and accomplishments. Lauren and I had a cocktail looking over the water wile I explained how this was a highlight for me. We enjoyed the evening breeze and eventually made it back to Klondike to call it a night, bu not before taking Frank ashore one more time.

Day 5- We were planning on leaving in the morning, and had a surprise visit from more family- Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark Lambert. They were in town visiting some other family and had contacted us the night before. We made plans on meeting for breakfast in the morning, so we left the bikes on shore overnight. I had also arranged for a pump out boat to come to us some time mid afternoon. We biked over and met for breakfast and had a wonderful time catching up! What a way to spend some time here in Florida! After breakfast, I called Jeff and Melinda to let them know we were going to be departing; they came by to say good-bye and we headed back to the boat to wait for the pump out. We waited and waited…They never showed up. I called and inquired about it, but was told they were not working today. What!? Apparently whoever made the arrangement with me had the wrong day. At this point it was too late to travel, so we had to make do with another night in Sarasota. We ended up taking the bikes back and riding around town for a bit, then calling it a night so we could get an early start tomorrow.

We plan on going to Cabbage Key. There are two ways to get there- using the intracoastal waterway or going out to the Gulf of Mexico and heading south to the inlet and coming in. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we plan on doing the ‘outside’ Gulf route. This will be a decision we should have thought more through…

In our research, we had thought an anchorage just inside the Manatee River would be a good place to stay the night. When we woke up and saw the winds not decreasing at all, we were a little leary of whether we should leave or not. The Manatee River was only about twenty five miles away, so we felt we could make it. We should have remembered the day before…

We left the marina early and followed our path that we brought in, out. The tide was rising, so we had a little more water leaving than we did coming in. The winds however had not settled down one bit. We made our way to the main channel through Tampa Bay and followed it southwest. The waves were choppy, but we were heading right into them. This decreased our speed, and made for a bumpy ride. As we were approaching the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (I-275) which is the big bridge that crosses from St. Petersburg to Bradenton, I noticed a large fishing boat approaching us from behind. It had been following us for a while, and now that we were about to go under the bridge it was going to be going through the small opening with us. WTF!? On top of this, the waves were increasing and now we had breaking waves coming at us. This is a first for us: trying to get through an inlet with breaking waves. I increased the throttle and was swearing at the fishing boat trying to pass us in these conditions. As the waves would break, I would lose control for a few seconds while the boat recovers from the current and action caused by the waves, then try to keep clear of the passing boat while trying to anticipate the next breaking wave and repeat over again. We finally made it through and got to where we needed to turn off out of the channel toward Bradenton/ Manatee River.

We made the turn and headed toward the first marker for the channel into Manatee River. Florida has been so crazy with the shallow waters- A huge bay that looks like you could go right across has only three foot depths or less across most of it, so you definitely have to have either local knowledge or just follow the channel markers and hope for the best, which is not always guaranteed. Listening to the radio, there is a constant call for TowBoat US or SeaTow, which are the two boat towing companies to call if you run aground. We now membership to both companies, as one isn’t always available and it is worth the membership fee for piece of mind. Working our way in the river, we made it to the deep waters where we could breathe a little easier.

Our first destination in mind was an anchorage not too far up the river. The river is about a half mile wide and fairly deep across, but doesn’t offer much protection, especially with the direction the wind was coming from. The waters were still choppy and it didn’t look like we would be too happy dropping anchor in this, and the wind was supposed to stay high and rain was expected to follow shortly. We scoped out the anchorage and decided that it was not a good spot. We started looking at marinas in the area and started calling them to see if there was availability for us and rates. Florida has also been expensive for docks as it is now ‘in season’ and many of the marinas are full. We spoke to a couple of places and decided to go to Safe Harbor Regatta Pointe Marina, which is in Palmetto, Florida, just across the bridge from Bradenton. The rates were ‘reasonable’ and they had room for us. Upon contact they directed us to come to the fuel dock for paperwork and they would then direct us to our slip. I tried to not stop at the fuel dock and asked if we could just go to the slip, but they insisted. OK- I just didn’t want to have to try to dock twice…

Once the paperwork was taken care of, I had to depart and turn the boat around to leave the main entrance to get to another side of the marina where our slip was. Of course the wind made me work to get us turned around and I needed the assistance of a dock hand to get us pointed in the right direction. Once out of the fuel dock, we made our way to our slip and was thankful there was someone there to assist with docking. This time we made it in with no problems and was happy to be tied up and secured. Now that we were at a marina, Lauren needed to get some (all) of the laundry taken care of. We hadn’t had laundry facilities available to us in some time, so we were low on clean clothes, but not quite out of them yet- this would take some time. In the mean time I had contacted my Uncle Jeff, who lives in Sarasota, and let him know we were close to him. He was excited to hear this and told us he would come over to visit later in the evening. Lauren continued with the laundry and Jeff showed up with food. We all hung out, ate and caught up, with Jeff and I staying up until 3am bullshitting on the back deck of the boat. Lauren had called it a night earlier, so we just kept talking and talking…

Day 2- We got going and departed on the bikes. We headed for the Village of the Arts but came upon a (gasp!) brewery on the way- they seem to find us now. We stopped at Motorworks Brewing, and it was just in time as it started to rain a little as we were going inside. We had a pint and since the rain stopped, we continued to the Village of the Arts: “The Village of the Arts is an eclectic live-work community made up of colorful historic cottages that house everything from award-winning restaurants to specialty shops, studios, healing arts, bakeries and Bradenton’s best art galleries. A stroll through our color-filled streets offers a little something for everyone, whether you’re a foodie, a vinyl enthusiast or a quilt lover, with services that range from knife sharpening to yoga.” Yeah- it was a pretty cool area to explore and have lunch. After lunch we decided we should get back because the rain was expected to continue, and we high tailed it back but still got pretty soaked as it had started coming down again. The rest of the night was spent hanging out on the boat and having dinner while the weather rolled past us.

Day 3- The weather continued to be ugly and was forecast for nastiness all day. At least we had the Browns to watch. Why do we do this? Continue to have false hope week after week? F the Browns. After the debacle, I took a nap and Frank got some walks in. We plan on leaving tomorrow for Sarasota so we also did some route planning and preparations for departure, such as filling water tanks and making sure we would be ready to go first thing in the morning.

The weather lately has been cool at night and windy all day. The temperature has been getting a bit warmer during the day, but the wind just hasn’t stopped. We had decided to go to Apollo Beach for a few reasons. We had some time to kill before our reservations in Sarasota, and we didn’t want to travel too far in this weather. Tampa Bay is quite large and can get rough. When we left our dock at the Tampa Convention Center we were fairly tucked in and protected, but once we got to the open water everything changed…

Once we got to the open waters, the waves were building. We had thought that the direction the wind was coming from would make it a smooth ride. We were wrong. The waves were hitting us from the side, or beam, and rocking us back and forth. Luckily the marina we were heading to was only ten miles away. We pulled into the channel and were suddenly in the middle of commercial traffic again. There were large boats coming and going, increasing the un-comfort of the already uncomfortable ride. We ended up allowing a tug to pass us, as we were going to be turning into the channel to the left. I called on the radio and told him our intentions, and he replied with a “thank you”, but I sensed some hesitation which made me look at the chart a bit more closely. I had thought we could make the turn into the channel and cut across to the other channel we wanted to be in. Upon looking closer, it seemed to be too shallow to cut through. Maybe this is why I heard the hesitation? we were turning into a commercial traffic channel to a power factory and we really had no business turning into it… Confused, I aborted and turned around in the channel to get back out to the main channel. Looking at the charts, there was no real clear way to get to where we wanted to be without going through charted shallow waters. There must be a way in!? I followed the deepest water I could find on the charts and Lauren and I watched the depth finder closely as it continued to drop in depths… We got to around four and a half feet of water as I was approaching and that is our lowest possible to still be floating. I felt a slight brush with the bottom but was finally to the marked channel which is kept to a minimum of five feet. Whew! The wind was still blowing, but now we were behind the island and more protected. We came around the bend and in front of us was a wall that ran parallel to the channel. I saw no marking on which side to go on and this scared me. Luckily there were some fisherman in a boat and I called out to them asking “which side do I go?” They were pleasant and told me the correct side and how to get to the marina we were looking for. We worked our way to the end and turned toward the marina. I called on the phone as directed and the dockmaster told me he was not on site at the moment to help, but explained where our dock was.

The final turn to the docks brought us directly into the wind again. The winds were now around 15+mph and expected to increase throughout the night. We made the turn and saw that we were going to be between two boats with nothing in between except one wood post in the rear, and it was a super skinny spot. On top of this, it was going to be a tricky maneuver to get us turned into the spot with the wind. On the first approach, we almost had it, but not quite. I was afraid of banging into the sailboat next to us and the wind started pushing me the wrong way. I called out to Lauren “abort! abort!- I’m backing out and doing this again!” She acknowledged and I shifted to reverse. Now the current and wind were working against me. I eventually got us backed out and noticed a shipyard worker in a small excavator watching us. I got us backed out and was ready to start another approach and saw him working his way toward the dock to assist. Yay! Sometimes a hand is needed. We came back toward the dock and I started the maneuvers again, this time getting it right. Lauren was able to toss a line to the helper, and I was able to get the stern line secured with only a minor ‘pineapple’- our code word for ‘we’re going to hit something!’ before securing the ship. We have come to accept the fact there will be some slight ‘bumps’, and since we’re steel, we’re not too worried about it unless its another boat. Once the lines were secure and Frank had his walk, the bikes were unloaded and we were ready to explore.

Our ride took us a few miles to the Manatee Viewing Center, which is where the warm water that is discharged from the power plant is now a refuge for manatees. More big business propaganda at its finest. After this, we rode to a grocery store a couple of more miles away to get some supplies. At this point it was getting to be dusk and there were no breweries within biking distance, so we headed back toward the boat. The rest of the night was spent having dinner and researching our next destination. We were unsure of where this would actually be, but the weather was not settling down yet, and we felt we wanted to get farther south as soon as possible to get to the ‘good’ weather. an anchorage in Bradenton was an option, as well as some other anchorages nearby, but the weather may dictate where we end up if and when we leave tomorrow…

The trip to Tampa was bumpy. The winds had kicked up and the trip was about three hours. We had to follow the channel to get in, and was a lot of commercial traffic as well as a large Coast Guard cutter that came up on us and then passed us on the way in. We had made reservations at the convention center docks to stay for two night. We arrived early in the day and came up to the docks. There was someone there to assist and we found our slip. As we were pulling in, the wind was pushing the boat sideways. Oh boy, here we go. Lauren tossed a line to the kid on the dock, who was busy on his cell phone. She went to to secure the midship line, and I was running down to get the rear. I looked up and the front end was swinging out, so I yelled at the kid to “pull the line!” He looked at me startled and started pulling while putting his phone away, but the wind was really pushing us. Trying to stop the momentum of a forty thousand pound boat is not easy and it kept swinging out. I ran back up to the flybridge and tried to use the engine to straighten us out, but we were swinging sideways now. Show time again! Now we are almost sideways in a two slip dock. Another dock hand made his way over and was able to assist with the lines. I was able to get us somewhat turned and close enough to get him a spring line. Using the engine and the spring line, I was able to get us straightened back out and we finally were secure. Once the lines were set I filled our water tanks as they were getting low and Lauren walked Frank. We then set out to see what Tampa has to offer…

The dock was in a great location. There was a pathway that ran right along the river and we were in the center of downtown. There was also a free trolley that runs through downtown with a dozen stops in between. We hopped on and went to Ybor. “Lively Ybor City is known for boutiques and vintage shops on 7th Avenue, which also hosts Cuban and Latin American eateries. The Centro Ybor mall offers indie fast food, bars, and a cinema. Housed in a 1920s bakery, Ybor City State Museum has exhibits on the cigar industry and the area’s immigrant communities. The GaYBOR district around 7th Avenue and 15th Street attracts a diverse crowd to its bars and clubs. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and was populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City’s cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually giving it the nickname “Cigar City””. We walked around and found the center where they have wild chickens roaming around. We saw a few chickens and continued on our way down the main street, dodging rain drops as it had started to rain. We ducked in to a place: Zydeco Brew Werks and had to try some of their beer. Once it had stopped raining, we continued on down the street. The rain continued on and off as we walked. We eventually stopped at another spot: Rock Brothers Brewing. “Rock Brothers unites craft beer and music to support great artists, great beer and even greater fans. In the ever changing climate of the music industry, artists are looking for new revenue streams, while fans are looking for new ways to connect with their favorite musicians… We believe this authentic partnership of music and beer brings that home in a new and innovative way. From recipe inception, brand creation, artwork design and even the name of the product itself, the band is involved every step of the way. A few of the bands include Hootie and the Blowfish, Umphrey’s Mcgee and 311. They make different beers for the different bands, and it was a cool spot. Here we waited out the rain some more, then rode the trolley back to the marina. Frank got his walk and we retired to a rainy and windy night at the dock, but we were secured.

Day 2- The morning was again windy and slightly chilly, but the rain had stopped. We took the bikes and rode along the pathway until it ended into a neighborhood, then we turned around and went back the other way. We found our way to Heights Public Market: “Heights Public Market is a food-lover’s dream and a truly innovative concept in Tampa. The 22,000 sq-ft industrial market features an open floor plan with communal seating surrounded by restaurants showcasing the top chefs and restaurateurs in the Bay Area. Heights Public Market also includes a “Show + Tell” workshop that hosts an array of events such as cooking classes, wine tastings and pop-up dinners in collaboration with market tenants.” This was a really cool spot to stop for lunch! We had some veggie chili dogs and mac and cheese, then some ice cream from someone else. I cannot stress enough how cool this place was- a definite stop if you’re ever in the area. Now that we had lunch, we continued on our bikes; Lauren had researched and found a cidery somewhat nearby, back in Ybor. We ended up at Cigar City Cider and Mead just as they were opening at 3pm. The bartender was friendly and we tried some ciders and mead. He told us about a new brewery that had just opened a few days ago not too far around the corner, so we decided to check that out too. BarrieHaus Beer Co. is where we ended up. They were friendly and a lot of other brewers were there talking to the owners and hanging out. It was a fun stop too, but we had to be on our way to get back before it got too dark and let Frank out. We made it back and prepared dinner while deciding on our next stop.

We had left Clearwater and had an anchorage in mind on the way to St. Petersburg, however the winds were blowing and we decided to just carry on to St. Petersburg and hopefully find some better shelter there. We had to go through several draw bridges on the way and ended up following a couple of sailboats on the way. We made good timing through them regarding their opening schedules. Sometimes they open on the half hour or only on the quarter hour. We made it through the last of the bridges and turned north to come up the west coast of the Tampa Bay. St. Petersburg is described in Wikipedia as: ” With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, and a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine (768 days between 1967 and 1969), it is nicknamed “The Sunshine City”. Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction. American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its “vibrant” arts scene.” The town really is pretty awesome.

Our arrival brought us to another unfamiliar port. The city has three basins, which are separated by land, and two are connected behind a break wall. The third (north) basin is closed due to construction by the city to rebuild their municipal marina and mooring field. Lauren’s research had shown there are city docks available next to a waterfront restaurant that charges $1/ hour but they do not allow overnight docking. We found our way into the central basin and wound our way toward the restaurant Fresco’s. We saw there were only a few slips open, and only one was big enough for us and it was right next to the packed restaurant patio and it was open. Whew. Now that we were in the marina, which is about as large as our marina at home, we were sheltered out of the wind. We made a good, easy landing and secured the ship with everyone watching us. It being a Saturday afternoon, I don’t think I saw an empty table out there. No show from us today! Lauren took Frank as I fiddled with the lines to make sure we were good. There was an automated payment machine to pay for the dock, but it was out of order. Lauren and Frank returned, and I walked up to the next marina to see about staying the night as it says to do online. The building I went to was not the office, and I got to chatting with a tour boat captain for a few minutes and he told me where I needed to go. I took the info and went back to Klondike to retrieve the dinghy, as the office is across the marinas so boat would be quickest way across. When I came back to the boat, Lauren was chatting with some people in a boat that was docked next to us. It turns out they were from Beachwood and regulars at Hyde Park! We chatted a bit and then I had to make my way to the office to see if I could get permission for overnight docking. The women in the office explained they cannot take transient boats due to the construction, but said we could dock next to the restaurant. I asked about paying, and she said if the machine is broke- it’s free. Cool! As far as the overnight was concerned, she said she couldn’t give ‘permission’ but she hasn’t heard of anyone getting kicked out. Hmm… I think we’ll take our chances tonight…

Once I was back and we agreed to see what happens, I got the bikes out and we headed out to see what we could get in to. The weather was hot, almost 80 degrees and with no wind off the water, it felt great. We headed toward downtown and found a great bike trail which snaked through downtown and continued past Tropicana Field. We were heading to a cidery that we were interested in: Three Daughters Brewing. Again, this being a Saturday afternoon and the weather being perfect, there were a ton of people out and about everywhere. The brewery has a giant Christmas village display which takes them two months to set up! It goes on and on… We had some cider and decided we should continue on. We found another place that we had to stop at called If I Brewed The World. There we realized we were in the midst of a bar(k) crawl so everyone had on ugly Christmas sweaters and most had their dogs. It was a fun, festive atmosphere. From there we continued past some other breweries but had decided to stop at Pinellas Ale Works, or PAW for short (see what they did!), with beers called Piddle Pils, Wet Nose Wheat and Off the Leash to name a few. Again this place had a few dogs in attendance. Now we were heading back to the boat and cruised past so many more breweries and cool areas, we knew we would be spending a few days here.

Day 2- We woke up to the sound of servers setting up the patio next to us. No one had bothered us last night, but we didn’t run the generator last night due to people sitting on the patio. We didn’t want to be rude and have the fumes coming out, so we just conserved our power through the night. Now it was Sunday morning, the sun was shining, and we figured we should probably leave the dock and not push it too far. The office ladies had told me people do anchor out in front of the basin, behind the break wall sometimes and it should be okay to do that since they couldn’t take the transients, even though there is a sign close by that says “No Anchoring By City Ordinance”. Since we wanted to stay in town a couple of more days, we decided to leave the bikes locked to a bike rack next to the restaurant and take the boat to the anchorage. We left the dock as they were opening, and we headed out to the anchorage. When we turned the corner, we saw a large trawler anchored out, but there was plenty of room for us. We found a spot a short ways away from them and dropped anchor. Once we were sure we were holding tight, I took the dinghy over to the other yacht to say hello. I chatted with them a short while and then made my way back to our boat. We hung out for awhile and enjoyed the sunshine. We were watching shore and saw some people with dogs setting up a Christmas display with large gift wrapped boxes, then Santa arrived! There were people coming up and getting pictures taken with their dogs, so we decided to dinghy to shore and see if we could get Franks picture taken too! Once we had a good picture, we returned to Klondike for showers and to get ready for more exploring of St. Pete’s. Our plan was to find a place to watch the Browns. Since it was a 4pm kick off, we had some time and didn’t have to rush. We biked around and found a bar called Park and Rec. It had every game on, so we ordered some refreshments and a pizza to wait for the game to start. About forty minutes later, I had to flag down a bartender to inquire about our pizza, and the Browns game. She found our food and put the game on for us. F the Browns. I wish I didn’t get so angry and wished they didn’t suck so bad, but they do and I did. By halftime, we had decided we would find somewhere else to go for a change of venue. We continued on and found another brewery: Cycle Brewing. There were no TV’s, so we enjoyed a beer then carried on. There is a large place next to Tropicana Field called Ferg’s Sports Bar. This place is huge, and had every game on. We found a TV for the last quarter, and finished watching the debacle we call a football team. After this, we made our way back to the boat to retire for the evening.

Day 3- We had another nice day ahead of us so we returned to the bikes to go explore some more. We rode for a bit along the waterway and found ourselves in a real fancy neighborhood. We admired the homes and then made our way back toward downtown. We stopped and walked around a historic district with small shops up and down the street. We got a some fancy ice pops and walked around some more. We now had to find a Walgreens to have our Christmas cards made. We biked around and found one not too far away. We dropped the pics off and had some time to kill while we waited. Of course, there was another brewery not too far. We went there: Overflow Brewery. The place looks a little scary form the outside, but we walked in to some good reggae playing and good vibes. We enjoyed our beverages and returned to Walgreens to pick up our cards. We picked these up and had made plans to see an old friend later. We made our way back to Three Daughters, as I had been thinking of the cider we had there. ON the Way, we stopped for some food at Bodega. It is a small shop with a street window to order at and there was always a line when we passed it. Now we had ordered and our food was delicious! What a cool spot and great food! In the mean time, I had received a text from my Uncle Jeff, and he was going to meet us later too. We told him we would be at Three Daughters, and we made our way there. Justin met us there and we chatted for a bit, catching up. Then Uncle Jeff showed up, and we ended up outside catching up. Eventually Justin left and the place was closing down. Since we were biking, we said our good-bye’s and Lauren and I headed back to the marina.

Tomorrow we plan on leaving and heading to Tampa. The weather is looking a little windy, but we don’t have too far to go. We have reservations at the Tampa Convention Center and are looking forward to exploring more of Florida.

After taking our time departing the last anchorage we headed to Clearwater Beach. The forecast today was high winds and storms overnight. On our way to the anchorage, the Coast Guard came on the radio and was giving warnings about high winds, tornadoes and fatal lightening, which did not make us feel very good about anchoring out. We called a marina on the way and was told there is no room for us. Apparently this is busy season for marinas. I figured we could get to the anchorage and scope it out again and see how we feel about it, and if we felt we needed a marina we would call every other marina around. I’ve also noticed the forecast seems to change hourly here in Florida.

We found our way to the anchorage we had scoped out and there were a lot of boats anchored here, which only a couple may have had someone on board. We had noticed this as mentioned, Florida seems to have boats anchored everywhere. Many of the boats looked to have nobody aboard, but a couple did. There was a channel coming into a marina, and we pulled just out of the channel and dropped our hook among the other boats. I had eyed up our spot and dropped enough line for the anchor to dig in and swing but not hit our neighbors. We continued to look at the forecast and the storms were still coming, but now it was coming later in the night/early morning hours.

Now that we were anchored securely, the rain started. At least we timed that perfectly. We hung out and waited for the rain to pass before taking Frank to shore before the ‘big’ storm actually hit. As we were walking around we stopped for a refreshment at a coffee shop. We hung out on the covered patio with Frank and waited for the rain to subside. Since we had already walked around in the light rain, we were a little wet. We had seen a place called Frenchy’s which looked good and reasonably priced. Their story is this: ” in 1981, Frenchy’s Original Café, the quaint restaurant on a tiny side street, opened its doors to the beach community. The Café became an instant success, with lines of people stretching out the door on a daily basis. To ensure a constant source of fresh fish to the Café, Frenchy purchased a fleet of fishing boats and eventually opened Frenchy’s Seafood Company. With these resources in place, Frenchy’s became “famous” for its fresh Super Grouper sandwich”… Lauren went in to see if we could bring Frank and they said yes, they have an outdoor covered patio we could sit at. The host was funny, because he said ” Have the dog shake outside so he doesn’t get our patron wet as we walk through”. I cannot tell Frank when to shake off, but I did say “lets move along and he won’t stop to shake!” Once out back we found a table and there was another dog and owner out there too, but the dogs were separated by a few tables and all was well. We can tell you the grouper sandwiches are delicious. We had lunch and tried to wait out the rain for a bit. Eventually it slowed down and we took off for the dinghy to get back to Klondike before the heavy rain started again. The ride back was a little wet, but we made it.

Since we had been here earlier in the week, we didn’t feel the need to explore. Now that we were back to the boat, we just hung out and watched the sunset and the dark clouds roll in. Frank had plenty of time on land, so we ran the generator for a bit and relaxed. The winds started picking up and we just hunkered down. Eventually we called it a night and retired, although we kept a close eye on where we were swinging. Once we were again sure we were secure and not too close to the other anchored boats, we slept through the storm which did not produce the lightening and thunder we were expecting, and I was not mad about that. We did swing every which way including into the channel a bit, but no other boats were out in this weather so I wasn’t too worried about it…